


Mesoelliane

by FiloX



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Gen, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 03:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16905153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiloX/pseuds/FiloX
Summary: When a negotiation turned sour, Obi-Wan fell into the hands of Xanatos, whose wicked mind still burning for revenge. Will he survive his ordeal?





	1. And Unusual Mission

**Author's Note:**

> ANGST! – 11 Years Pre-TPM (Obi-Wan is 14)
> 
> / denotes talking through the Master/Padawan bond
> 
> * denotes talking through telepathy
> 
> Italic denotes characters thinking to themselves
> 
> Written in 2002. It was my first fanfic so please don't laugh *embarrassed*  
> Unfinished.

"Padawan, wake up, it's time to get up. You only have one standard hour left to get ready." Qui-Gon called from the common room, preparing a delicious breakfast for the two of them.

When he received no reply, Qui-Gon set the breakfast on the table and walked to the door of Obi-Wan's room. Obi-Wan still had his head under the blanket, sleeping peacefully. Qui-Gon sighed, Obi-Wan was never a morning person, especially when he slept late the night before. "Obi-Wan, we have a meeting with the council today. It's a quiet important one, I certainly don't want to be late."

"Five more minutes Master." Obi-Wan muttered under his blanket, finally half-awake and stirring a little.

"No, Padawan, I need you to get up now. It's your own fault that you didn't sleep earlier last night." Qui-Gon said disapprovingly as he headed back to the kitchen.

Signing, Obi-Wan reluctantly uncovered himself from the warmth of the bed. It was a rather cold morning. He would love to just stay in bed a little longer. He wondered how Qui-Gon could always get up so early when he always work till midnight.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes as he emerged from his sleeping room. "Master, what does the council summon us for? We already have an assignment for tomorrow."

"I know, but there seemed to be a change of plan." Qui-Gon replied. "Yoda only informed me this morning and it seemed rather urgent, the rest we will have to find out when we arrived before the council."

"Another mission we have for you, rather urgent it is. Requested your presence specially the Senate has. Trust in you Qui-Gon the Supreme Chancellor certainly does." Yoda began after Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan bowed before the council.

"This mission was of the utmost importance. A spacecraft of unknown design was detected travelling close to the Outer Rim by the navi's sensor system." Mace Windu continued the explanation. "It landed on one of the Republic's planet three standard hours ago and claims to be from a neighbour galaxy thousands of millions of years away. They are a type of Humanoid unidentified. They wish to extend peace across the universe and requested to meet with our Supreme Chancellor, but they are not going to meet here on Coruscant."

"Coruscant is the heart of the galaxy, the most efficient shot is to the heart. And the aliens' quest might not be what it seemed." Qui-Gon reasoned, reciting the saying of some Jedi Master long dead.

"What the Senate believed, that is. Never underestimate the possible threats, one should." Yoda remarked.

"The meeting place will take place in the Mid Rim on Auchenflower of the Bris-Bane system. The Supreme Councillor will need the protection of the Jedi to be safe. The negotiation will take place this afternoon."

"We will do our best to protect the Supreme Chancellor. We accept the mission."

"Good, may your peace negotiation be a success. May the Force be with you."

"Visitors from outergalaxy! This is amazing, I heard that the scientist had never developed a spaceship fast enough to reach other galaxies carrying Humanoids." Exclaimed Garen, who was almost jumping up and down at the heat of the chat.

"Those aliens must look weird, maybe they have three heads and have a huge mouth on their stomach so that they could eat while talking. I heard that Auchenflowerian fruits are very nice, could you bring back some for me?" Reeft's abnormally wrinkled face became even more wrinkled from his huge grin at the thought of food, his eyes sparkling with hope.

"Reeft, can you stop thinking with your stomach for once. Obi-Wan, I heard that Auchenflower is a beautiful place and has many grand buildings, but the natives there are not exactly friendly." Bant turned serious as the galactic geography lesson she had the day before came into her mind.

"Really? I thought the Auchenflowerians are quite friendly."

"No, not the Auchenflowerians, it's the Tilco cats, they are the native beasts, cunning and clever, and deadly."

"The native animals should not be any threat to the civilizations. The cities are highly civilised and advanced. I heard that it looked almost like Coruscant."

"Still, Obi-Wan, be careful. Things is not always what it seemed."

"I guess I'll take that advice, thanks Bant. See you friends, I had to go now, our transport is here. May the Force be with you."

"And you too." The three friends said in unison. Waving and watching as Obi-Wan followed Qui-Gon and ascended into the transport.


	2. Visitors From Outergalaxy

Auchenflower is a beautiful planet. Not only has it the artistic modern skyscrapers, but also the endless natural forests that stretch for miles in all directions. It looked like a work of art from the view in outer space. Two continents close together surrounded by sparkling deep blue sea only divided by a deep channel that stretch across half the planet; one continents packed with immense buildings and the other washed by emerald green. Obi-Wan marvelled at the image before him. He had grown up in the Jedi Temple of Coruscant, a planet where every piece of land was occupied by enormous skyscrapers. The shadow thrown by the tall buildings were so deep that the shuttles streaming between them were forced to keep their headlights on even in daytime; species of all kind dotted the walkway, and the air was thick with speeders and transports driven by pilots with much daring. On his last few missions, he had seen places with much wilderness than he'd ever imagined possible on a planet. Most of them undeveloped of course. But this planet is different. From the look of the cities, the technologies have most certainly reached Coruscant's standard. But unlike some advanced planets, they did not built their cities all over the planet, they simply used one of the continents and left the other one basically untouched. This is a rare spectacle to see in a galaxy where the population was expanding so rapidly, especially when Auchenflower didn't exactly has the least population in developed planet.

The ship flew smoothly through the planet's atmosphere, it was the Supreme Councillor DeLowk's private transport,  _The Leader_ , served to satisfy all species' comforts. This transport served the last Supreme Councillor as well, who was built slightly different from human, but certainly has a very advanced political brain, his bulging eyes as penetrating as it is intimidating. Nevertheless, he had served the Republic well, many wanted him to remain in the Supreme Councillor position since he's outstanding leadership during the chaotic time in the Out Rim had gain him more than respect but hearts of his people. Whoever, he politely turned down the request and explained that the years he had been on the seat of Supreme Councillor had worn him, and he wished to spend the rest of his life with his family of three. This gave his people insight that underneath all the stereotype politician features, there is a heart of a man.

DeLowk was quite young compared to all other Supreme Councillors, only fifty of years when voted to become the leader of the galaxy. It was recorded that one of the Supreme Councillors had been 700 years old. He was new to his position, been only elected last month. During his first month of management, many great political issues had been solved. Doowine star system famine had been managed; many corrupt Senators had been pushed off their high seats; laws had been altered so now that there was a higher security measure on routine shipping lanes so that it would be harder for pirates to hijack another ship.

Following the  _The Leader_ , fleet of ships fully armed served as escorts for the ship. As it entered the atmosphere, six of the fleet of bodyguard ships decended with  _The Leader_  and landed on a grand docking bay near the grand castle in the centre of the city. The Mayor and many of his offcial were greeting them at the port. The Mayor was a bald plump man, probably in his late forties, with a round, good natured face which, Obi-Wan noted, was flushed with joy, grining widely as he reaching out his hand. "Welcome Supreme Councillor DeLowk, it's such an honour to meet you!" his grin grew even wider as DeLowk reached out his hand in return and shook it.

"The meeting is ready to begin, Supreme Councillor, I hope our Grand Hall would be splendid enough for this important meeting!" DeLowk nodded his thanks and the rather excited Mayor lead the way to a metallic silver building which stood tall and grand above all other skyscrapers. Ceremonial drapes hang down from the top of the building and guard speeders patrolled the air around it. The Jedi followed them along with a patrol of guards dressed in ceremonial armours.

The Grand Hall inside the building was nothing like Obi-Wan had ever seen. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon followed in with DeLowk and the Mayor as the guards waited at the door. The single hall was more than a three hundred meters long and ten stores high. The high ceiling was decorated with beautiful swirl of colours that formed the styles of the Auchenflowerian culture.

Looking around the hall, it was decorated with artistic treasures. Dazzling sculptures covered in gold and crystals; paintings that shift shapes as light shone on it on a slightly different angle; holograms of a lash green jungle was projected on the other end of the hall, waving slightly as through in a gentle breeze. Splendid chairs which yet occupied nobody were lined around a round table carved out of diamond and incrusted with rare gems in the centre of the hall showed the wealth of the city.

Light poured in from the huge windows that dominated large areas of the wall on the two sides opposing each other. As the Grand Hall was near the top level of the building, no towering structures blocked the views outside the windows. From here, one could see hundreds of thousands of miles across. Obi-Wan could even see a faint outline of green which he thought must be the edge of the jungles on the other continent.

Obi-Wan thought he saw a glint of silver on the edge of the forest when his Master's voice calling him dragged him back to reality.

"Padawan, do you know why the Senate choose this planet in this star system for the meeting?"

"Because in this star system comics rarely invade so that it could not disterrupt the sensor to pick up any signals of vessels so that the meeting would not be attacked by hostile fleets. On this planet because there is no moon so that ships cannot be hid on them. The choice was to be in control of the situation and higher security." Obi-Wan answered immediately, he had studied about this star system last night so Qui-Gon's test was no problem to him.

"Correct, Padawan, and most importantly, this is the first official contact with outergalaxy, possibly the most important event in humanity, precaution and alert is highly recommended. We do not know what to expect of the alien species."

Catching the hidden warning under the words. Obi-Wan once more turned his attention back to this mission, focusing on the door at the far side of the hall were the alien visitors would sooner or later walk through. Suddenly, Obi-Wan felt a disturbance in the Force and shifted uneasily.

Qui-Gon saw the change of posture of the boy beside him, he turned and gave him a questioning look. Through their bond, he sent /what's wrong, Padawan/

Obi-Wan felt it again/A disturbance in the Force, Master./

Qui-Gon frowned slightly, he hadn't felt anything. /I don't feel anything. Concentrate on the present, Padawan./

"Yes Master." Obi-Wan replied automatically, feeling even more ill at easy at the fact that Qui-Gon did not feel what he had felt.  _Is it because the danger is directed at me only? Why do I feel such an unease?_

/Obi-Wan/

/Sorry Master./ shielding his thoughts tighter, Obi-Wan once again focused on the door just as it opened.

The aliens looked almost human, despite their electric blue skins. Their eyes are silver, as if sightless. Their bald heads gleaming under the daylight. There are six of them, they were all wearing uniforms with colours that matched their skins. The one standing in the front was tall and sturdy built, reminds Obi-Wan of Grelb the Hutt he had encountered on the transport to Bandomeer. The others behind him are of a slightly smaller built, but even they are taller than Master Qui-Gon.  _Very intimidating looking surely_. Obi-wan thought silently, unaware that his mental shield had loosen during his curious inspection of the aliens. The leader of the group turned and looked directly at him…at least he thought, because the silver eyes hardly gave him any indication of what he where he was looking.

The alien beings spoke…well, not exactly by their mouth as Obi-Wan realised to his horror that the aliens did not have one! Nevertheless, Obi-Wan heard clearly what they said: Greetings, my name is Elslwsikwwy Iekslaiow Neowazze, these are my crews, Hwelw Qhels Ogpesleko, Veodrye Ldowne Seople, Adwolena Lwhoe Ksavselope, Nweaeni Anewpoi Woaiue, and Melpel Keowo Planeits. We are from the galaxy Peonwlwen and our quest is seeking peace in the universe.

_It's telepathy!_  Obi-Wan realised, the voices sounded as if they were inside his head, but at they same time, everybody around him had heard it. And all those weird long names. Obi-Wan wondered how they could have remembered them themselves. And even more surprising, the aliens could speak basics…or is it really words he heard. It's more like a feeling than sound.  _Maybe that's how the aliens communicate._  Obi-Wan thought quietly,  _Sending feelings rather than words so all species could understand them. Wonder what they do to make a living in their galaxy…_

/Obi-Wan, concentrate on here and now./

Qui-Gon's stern voice awoke him from his daydreams.  _This negotiation is guaranteed to be very eventful._  Tightening his shields again, Obi-Wan thought hopefully. But the uneasiness tagged at him again.  _Why do I still feel so uneasy?_

"Welcome, outergalaxy visitors," DeLowk began. "We appreciate your quest for peace, this is the purpose of this meeting. I am the Supreme Councillor DeLowk, this is Mayor Bobsoen as you already know and," DeLowk gestured the Jedi, and the aliens turned their silver eyes in their direction, "they are the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi."

The Jedi bowed at the mentioning of their names and the unease was increasing every moment. Obi-Wan briefly wondered what was wrong with him when the aliens spoke again.

The Jedi? We have never heard of them before.

Obi-Wan's unease increased as the aliens set their silver eyes on him again. It felt as if they could see right through him into him mind.

"The Jedi are the guardian of peace of our galaxy, it is our way of keeping peace in a galaxy." DeLowk explained and gestured them to take seat at the round table.

Sitting down, the captain alien nodded at the explanation, Very different to our system of work. We only require security forces.

The alien suddenly looked at Obi-Wan, and stared at him for a intense moment. Obi-Wan fought the urge to look away.

How old are you, boy? the alien finally broke the silence.

"Fourteen, sir." Obi-Wan wondered why the alien was showing such an interest in him.

Fourteen? Fourteen is a very young age among my species, is it different in yours? The captain turned towards DeLowk.

"No, Jedi apprentices are supposed to be taken into training when they are young, Obi-Wan had just stepped out from his childhood."

The captain seemed to consider this. Nodding, he said, Your specie certainly has fascinating cultures.

After this brief exchange, the aliens began to talk about some interesting things about their galaxy and the formal peace making procedures. However, through the talk, Obi-Wan only half listened. Not only did his sense of dread increase, his suspicion had grown stronger after the aliens surprising shown of interest in him.  _Why me? If they never heard of Jedi before, my Master knows more about them than I do._  Through the meeting, Obi-Wan only dimly thought he saw something moving at the door. When he spared a glance at it, it was only the guards taking their shifts. However, Qui-Gon's sharp eyes failed at noticing nothing, scold channelled silently through their bond, telling Obi-Wan to focus. Obi-Wan decided against telling Qui-Gon of his uneasiness, surely Qui-Gon would have felt it by now.

Then he felt it. Obi-Wan flung himself into action, not really surprised when Qui-Gon did the same. The older Jedi shouted everyone to duck and ignited his emerald lightsaber. Just then, a silver shuttle crashed through the high windows and sped across the room. The aliens and DeLowk had already reacted at Qui-Gon's shout of warning and ducked under the table. The plump Mayor, however, was shocked at seeing his grand hall windows been crashed through like that and beautiful royal maroon carpet littered with shattered glass that he just stood there and gap. Frustrated, Obi-Wan pulled him down to the floor just as the shuttle speed over head, it's underside screeching across the diamond table.  _That was close._

Qui-Gon dodged as the shuttle passed overhead and, using his extraordinary lightning quick Jedi reflexes, severed a small wing of the shuttle as it passed, tumbling towards the other side's high windows, the sound of another deafening crash as the shuttle brought down the other side's windows as well.

Obi-Wan turned to see that Mayor Bobsoen was whimpering and trembling and he looked as if he's going to burst into tears. Obi-Wan felt sorry for him. The Grand Hall must have been his most prideful hall.

The Mayor's fear suddenly turned into anger, for his face immediately flushed red, this time from fury. He shouted after the shuttle, "Ahhh! You bastards! You destroyed my Grand Hall! I'm going to kill you!" as he shouted, he ran towards the broken window where the shuttle had left through, and kept shouting and swearing after it, as if they would hear. The shouts had certainly attracted a lot of attention from the traffic down below and a few shuttles flew up in level with the hall and asked what's going on.

Then, chaos erupted. Blaster shots came sizzling into the hall from both doorways. The guards were shooting at them! Obi-Wan quickly drew his lightsaber and with Qui-Gon they deflected the blaster shots one after another, not only the ones coming straight at them but defending everyone else in the room as well…wait a minute…the aliens are gone! Obi-Wan looked around the room and saw an electric blue boot disappearing around a corner of the doorway.  _It's a trap!_  Obi-Wan thought alarmingly. They had to think of a plan to get away, more attackers are coming in and they wouldn't be able to held them off for very long. As the minutes dragged on, Obi-Wan felt his muscles tiring.

Then the angry Mayor beside them shouted to them suddenly, "I have a automatically controlled shuttle, we'll escape through the window."

The Jedi and the Supreme Councillor somehow managed to hear him above all the noises of blaster fires and lightsaber buzz. They ran quickly towards the broken windows on their right and Mayor Bobsoen fumbled with his remote control. When they reached the window, they saw that a dark blue shuttle was coming towards them. "That's my shuttle, we get onto that one." Mayor Bobsoen tapped in a few code and the shuttle door opened. Qui-Gon quickly helped the Supreme Councillor DeLowk to get onto the shuttle first, when he turned to help the Mayor, he saw a man, coming out of nowhere, leapt towards Obi-Wan. The boy sensed it coming and tried to dodge out of the way, but something was topping him, as if freezing him on the spot. Qui-Gon sensed the Force's presence stopping Obi-Wan.  _The attacker was a Force-user!_  The man landed a solid kick to Obi-Wan's chest, knocking him onto the floor.

"Obi-Wan!" Qui-Gon rushed forward as he shoved the Mayor through the door. The man already felt him coming and to Qui-Gon's surprised, ignited a blood red sabre and blocked Qui-Gon's blow.  _Xanatos_. Qui-Gon took a sharp intake of breath as he recognized his former apprentice, who had betrayed him many years ago. Heart still filled with the burning urge of revenge for the loss of his wealth, his power, and his father.

Xanatos father was the planet ruler of Telos and for power and wealth, he had lead his planet to a civil war with the help of his son and mercilessly killed millions of his own people. Qui-Gon had tried to help to bring peace to the planet but Xanatos turned against him. Qui-Gon had not killed Xanatos' father in cold-blood, but in defence. Xanatos, however, only acknowledge the fact the Qui-Gon had  _killed_  him, and turned his sabre against his Master. Qui-Gon was far more experienced than him and, of course, brought him down, but he could not bear to kill his own apprentice.

Xanatos had escaped then, but he returned when Qui-Gon had taken a mission on Bandomeer. That had been before Obi-Wan had became Qui-Gon's apprentice, not yet thirteen, but was sent to the Agriculture-Corps on Bandomeer as well. Xanatos had seen them together and mistakenly thought that Obi-Wan had replace him and had hurt and kidnapped him, imprisoned him on a deep sea mine where miners are kept as slaves to lure Qui-Gon into the trap he had planed for him. Xanatos had trapped both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in a mine deep underground and told them of his plan of blowing the whole planet up just as he left in order to make Qui-Gon's death more painful with the knowledge that millions of people are going to die in less than five minutes and he's powerless to help them. It was Obi-Wan's courageous act of sacrificing his life – activated the bomb on his slave collar to blow the door open to get Qui-Gon out of the mine in order to disable the central bomb that made Qui-Gon remember the dream he had one night at the beginning of the mission that enable him to open the force sealed door without losing Obi-Wan. It was then that Qui-Gon realised the true potential and courage that Obi-Wan possess. It was in Xanatos' trap, when they stared in the face of death that brought the Master and Padawan together.

Of course, Xanatos had escaped again, and he returned almost too soon, only a year had passed counting the days from the event on Bandomeer. And this time, Obi-Wan's fully Qui-Gon's Padawan and was in even greater danger.

Qui-Gon brought his sabre up to block a blow from his former apprentice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Obi-Wan clutching his chest, trying to climb to his feet. The trace relieve in his eye must have gave it away for Xanatos suddenly stretched out his left hand and with a surge of Force, swept Obi-Wan off his feet and sent him crashing on to the floor a few meters away. To even more of Qui-Gon's horror, a soldier close to Obi-Wan pointed his blaster at the boy and pulled the trigger. Obi-Wan was momentarily stunned by the impact and was unable to move out of the way in time, the blaster caught him on his shoulder and he went limp on the floor.

"No!" The momentary distraction was enough, Xanatos slashed his sabre down and kicked out at Qui-Gon, whom, caught off guard and as the kick connected with his abdomen, he fell through the broken window. Xanatos gazed down in victory as he watched Qui-Gon falling away towards the traffic below but it was quickly turned into anger as Qui-Gon managed to use the Force to grab a flagpole extended out of building to stopped his fall. Xanatos roared in rage as a dark blue shuttle came up below Qui-Gon and pulled him safely into the shuttle. He had came so close to finish him off again and he escaped! But then he smiled, this time was different, he had the boy in his clutch. Yes, he will return, for this boy's sake if not more.

Xanatos turned away from the window and checked the pulse on the unconscious boy on the floor.  _Still alive, good_. He turned and commanded the guards, "Take him to the shuttle."

Supreme Councillor DeLowk and Bobsoen the Mayor pulled Qui-Gon into the shuttle and helped him down onto a seat by the control. "What happened? Where is your apprentice?"

"Xanatos is back, he's seeking revenge and his guards shot Obi-Wan." DeLowk was Qui-Gon's old friend and he know what Qui-Gon's talking about, however, Bobsoen was at sea. "Who's Xanatos? Why is he seeking revenge?" After a short and brief explanation DeLowk turned the conversation to the more important matter, "Obi-Wan was shot, are you sure he's still alive?"

"Yes, I could still feel him through our bond." Qui-Gon replied grimly, brooding over his thoughts.

"We should go back for him, the poor kid would be killed!" The Mayor said worryingly. Obi-Wan had saved his life nevertheless.

"They wouldn't kill him, Xanatos would keep him alive until he killed me." Qui-Gon prayed silently at what he had said. "If we go back now, it would still be to late, they would have took off on their shuttles already."

The three of them glanced through the viewport, shuttles and speeders sped past them there was no way to tell which one of the shuttles are the attackers'.

"Let's all get to my office and get things settled, it won't be a long ride." Mayor Bobsoen offered and none of them refused.

_Maybe then I'll be able to find out where Xanatos had set his trap for me._  Thought Qui-Gon, he silently wished that Xanatos wouldn't kill Obi-Wan before he could save him. Either way, he had to act fast, considering what Xanatos had done to Obi-Wan before, the lesser time Obi-Wan had to stay in Xanatos' hands, the better.


	3. Jeopardy's Beginning

The first thing reached Obi-Wan's awareness when he woke up was the weird floating sensation he felt through his body. He felt oddly drowsy, but was not awake enough to work out the reason behind this wave of drowsiness. Where is he? Obi-Wan leafed through his memory and remembered, someone kicked him in the chest…trying to get up but unseen hands seized him and throw him onto the floor again…the pain in his shoulder…then…nothingness. He must have been captured by the attackers! Obi-Wan wondered if Qui-Gon, DeLowk and the Mayor had been able to escape.

Obi-Wan tried to open his eyes but felt something pressing on his eyes.  _blindfold!_   _There must be something they wanted to keep private._  He took a deep breath to calm himself. Then he decided against it when sharp pain spread in his chest and shoulder.

He tried to move but realised that his wrists and ankles were tightly bonded, rather too tightly for the young Jedi to be comfortable. Almost as an automatic reaction, Obi-Wan tried to use the Force to work on the lock on the binders, only to find that the Force was completely out of his reach. Every time he tried to grasp it, the Force slipped through his fingers like water.  _That explains the drowsiness, they must have used some kind of Force inhibitor drug on me._  Without the Force, Obi-Wan felt utterly alone and helpless.

He wondered momentarily why they hadn't killed him. They were shooting at them at first and surely had the wanted to kill them. He was alive at least, Obi-Wan pushed the other questions away.  _You are alive and that's all that matters now._

Obi-Wan suddenly realised that he was on a shuttle, for the cool metal floor beneath him was vibrating slightly.  _A shuttle? Wonder where they are taking me._ Obi-Wan turned his head to free his other ear, straining to hear if there is anyone nearby. Hearing nothing, the young Jedi tried rubbing his face against the metal floor, attempting to rub the blindfold off his face, so he could at least see where he is and finding a way to escape. Just then, he heard a door slid open and booted feet pounded on the floor.

Obi-Wan immediately froze in mid-action, pretending still to be unconscious. But the man was obviously not fooled by this for he squat down in front of the apprentice and Obi-Wan heard a menacing voice closely above him. "I know we would meet again, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Obi-Wan felt the hair on his neck prickled and his breath quickened. He knew the voice, he had heard it from a year ago and he would never forget it. He had not even turned thirteen when he heard the voice for the first time. The legendary apprentice of Master Qui-Gon. Initiates talks about him often at the Temple. It was know to all that Qui-Gon's former apprentice had betrayed him and disgraced the Jedi, but the rumour said that he was dead. But the event on Bandomeer hand certainly proved him wrong. Not only Xanatos was very alive but evil to the core, could do anything to give Qui-Gon a painful death. Obi-Wan, though not Qui-Gon's apprentice then, was mercilessly dragged into Xanatos' cruel plan for revenge as well. The memory sent a chill down his spine and Obi-Wan flinched involuntarily.

Xanatos seemed to have noticed the change for he laughed coldly. "Still remember me, boy? I don't expect you to forget our last encounter easily anyway. You have grown quite close to Qui-Gon now haven't you? Don't think that I didn't see you during the time of my disappearance. I had always kept an eye on you and your Master, boy. Always trying to find the best moment to attack…now that I've found it, I will succeed, I have an even more painful death installed for your Master. One he would regret that he hadn't let me kill him last time." Xanatos began his cold laughter once more. His words pounded in Obi-Wan's ears,  _I have an even more painful death installed for your Master_. "No, you won't succeed, your past failure proves that. You will never succeed."

The cold laughter abruptly stopped. Obi-Wan knew that Xanatos was angered by his words. Though he could not feel his anger with the Force, the heavy breathing was an indication. Obi-Wan was sure that Xanatos would lash out at him, and readied himself for the blow. To his surprise once more, he did not, only an even colder laughter broke the silence.

"You could never grow up can you, Obi-Wan. You haven't changed one bit since we last met face to face." Xanatos took in his injures and his laboured breathing, "Not exactly in a good shape to fight now, are you? Still so stubborn, that's one quality that I value in you, and still so headstrong, so immature, have so much faith in Qui-Gon. All the times I have been watching, even I had finally realised that Qui-Gon chose you only because he pitied you. Your life is so worthless, that you would willingly blow it up without considering if there is any other option to open the door. And what made you think that he would trust you again after you had betrayed him on Melida/Daan."

Obi-Wan's face flushed and he practically shouted at Xanatos, "He did not chose me because he pitied me! And how dare  _you_  talk about betrayal of Qui-Gon! You tried this trick before and you should know that I won't fall for it twice!" this outburst made Obi-Wan's chest hurt even more. He felt anger rose in him and tried to contain it, but it's not working.

Xanatos whispered into his ear once more. "Quick anger, that's another quality that I value in you. A great quality of the dark side. It's such a pity to have this quality wasted through your useless Jedi training to suppress it. If you come to the dark side, Obi-Wan, you would make a great Sith lord. By that time you would be stronger than Qui-Gon, stronger than Yoda, stronger than any Si –"

Obi-Wan had heard enough, he cut Xanatos off in mid-speech, "I don't care what power the darkness would give me, all I care is to become a Jedi Knight, that's all I wanted in my life. So stop wasting your time Xanatos, your attempt is futile."

Again, silence followed. Xanatos seemed to be considering his words. "You know, I don't have to keep you alive. You are a such a nuisance, I could just kill you now and save myself the trouble."

Obi-Wan's heartbeat quickened at his word, but he refused to show Xanatos his fear. If he were to die after all, he would accept his fate, die bravely, like a Jedi.

"But I won't kill you, not yet. You are an important part of my plan for revenge. Without you, the whole thing would be unworkable." Xanatos paused for a moment to feel the apprentice's relief, then he continued, leaning closer to his ear, "But I will not hesitate to kill you when I'm done with Qui-Gon. I will kill you slowly and painfully. No one will be there to save you then, and," Xanatos added darkly, "I'll enjoy every moment of it."

With this, Xanatos left the room with a swish of his cape, left Obi-Wan alone in the darkness and silence which was only broken by his laboured breathing.

"Supreme Councillor, our fleet had been attacked by alien ships, we are greatly outnumbered!" A fluster officer shout through the holo-com above the background noise of cross fire.

DeLowk frown at the information, "How could this happen? The military sensors hadn't showed starfighters are vessels."

The officer shouted back, "The aliens must have advanced cloaking devices. We could see them directly in front of us, but the sensors don't show! They have more advanced weaponry and armours. Their single beam could blast as into oblivion but our guns could not penetrate their hull!"

"Command retreat whole fleet, set a course straight to Coruscant."

"But Supreme Councillor, what about y - "

"Don't worry about me, I have plenty securities down here, besides I'm with the Jedi. I do not wish to lose more life than necessary. Go, now."

"Yes, Supreme Councillor." The officer gave a final salute and the hologram dissolved into a stream of statistics.

DeLowk shut off the holo-com and shook his head. "Had we had the meeting on Coruscant, the aliens would surely have seized it by now."

Qui-Gon nodded, but he only half listened. At the moment, he was more concerned about Obi-Wan than anything else in the entire galaxy. Had it only been an hour since they parted. It seemed like a life time, just sitting here thinking hard about what to do. He had tried to contact Obi-Wan through their training bond, but something is blocking it. He could still feel the boy's presence, but he could not reach him. Qui-Gon wondered what Xanatos had done to him.

They have gone over all the possible places the shuttle would have went. They were very sure that the shuttle never left the planet for the fleet in orbit reported none leaving the atmosphere. There are very few possible places shuttle full of armed guards could go, and they already had the security forces checked those places and found none. This left them to only two other possible places, the sea, or the jungle.

The sea was not very vast, nor is it very deep, a normal sea shuttle could do the job. The jungle, however, would be tricky to search, the canopies are so thick that there is no way anyone could see what's under it from the sky. Therefore, the search had to be taken under the canopies, where the trees are so thick that so spaces between tree trunks could barely squeeze in a man, which meant more difficulty for a speeder to pass through and the search had to be made by foot. The jungle continent takes up almost half a planet and it would take all the security forces months to search the whole place if not more. This required time that Qui-Gon does not have. The longer Obi-Wan remains in captive, the greater the danger he would be in.

Not only does Qui-Gon fear that Xanatos would harm him, but he might even try to seduce Obi-Wan to the dark side. Half of Qui-Gon's mind spoke to him in determined voice that Obi-Wan would never, ever, turn to the dark side. The other half was not so sure, it whispered beneath his conscience that Obi-Wan was no more than a child, that he was too young to be able to resist the dark side, he had never seen the dark side before and would not be ready to defend himself against it. Who knows what Xanatos' wicked mind would dream up to seduce the boy to the dark side? Qui-Gon flinched at the thought, Xanatos might hurt Obi-Wan enough to really frighten him, and fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side. No, he cannot let this happen, he could not let Xanatos to pollute Obi-Wan's bright light with his darkness, he could not. He would have to act fast.

To the comlink, he spoke to the security forces. "Begin the search, now."


	4. A Man of Mystery

For what seemed like hours, Obi-Wan just lie there, wondering what would happen to him now. Suddenly, the ship screeched to a shuddering halt, they must have arrived at what ever headquarter they came from. Wishing only he could get the blindfold off his eye. Since Xanatos had left the room, Obi-Wan had engaged himself in a futile attempt to rub the blindfold off his face, but of course, his captors would not let him get away so easily, so finally, he gave up, he had a fairly reasonable feeling that his strength would be greatly required of once he gets off the ship.

The door opened again and footsteps resounded off the floor once more. But this time, they were not Xanatos'.  _It must be the guard's._ Obi-Wan thought in relief. He wasn't really ready to meet Xanatos again.

Rough hands seized him and easily lift him off the floor, swinging him effortlessly over a shoulder like a rucksack, his bruised chest ached in protest.  _Definitely not the nicest way to carry someone but it is surely far better than what ever alternative they installed._

Obi-Wan wondered briefly where they are now. Wherever they are, Obi-Wan was sure it was far away from the city. He cannot imagine them not alerted security forces carrying a boy with bonded hands and a blindfold stuck to his face. Judging on the unevenness of the ground, the fresh smell and sharp things that occasionally scratched against his skin, Obi-Wan now has a fairly good idea where they are. Where else could they be that they could walk so freely? Where else would the ground be so uneven? Where else would smell like leaves? Where else would have branches sticking out in all direction? Obi-Wan wondered if he should try to escape now, but thought better of it, he would stand no chance against people with blasters in their hand without the use of the Force, his eyes and his limbs. Obi-Wan wondered if Qui-Gon know where he was, wondering if he could find him.  _No, wrong, Padawan. If Master finds you that means he had stepped into Xanatos' trap, and that would not be good, no no. I should think of a plan to escape. Mmm, let's see, I'm now in a Force-knows-where place in a jungle which almost covers half of the planet. My hands and feet are bond and had a blindfold on and I could not access the Force. Just too good, I wish I would have more days like this. Wonder if I still had my lightsaber on me, I don't think so, Padawan, nobody's stupid enough to do that. sigh I'm getting off to a good start._

Everyone made the journey through silence. Obi-Wan could almost sense the fear hang thick in the atmosphere, almost.  _Good, this meant that the drug is wearing off._  They must have walked through a door for Obi-Wan could no longer smell the leaves or feel branches scratching his cheeks. The warm breeze was gone as well and the light was considerably darker in here. The change of light was the only thing Obi-Wan could see through the blindfold pressing on his eyes. Not long, he was thrown roughly onto the floor.  _Nice ride, guy, but no thanks._  Obi-Wan thought silently,  _this is not going to be good._

"This is Qui-Gon's apprentice?" a deep voice asked from above.

"Yes, my Master." It was Xanatos' voice. "He was captured after the chaos had erupted during the meeting." Obi-Wan thought he sensed fear, but took it as a side-effect from the drug. He cannot imagine Xanatos been afraid of someone.

"It seemed that he was very easily captured," the man took in the one injury on the boy's shoulder. To Obi-Wan he said, "You disappointed me, boy."

Before Obi-Wan could think of a reply, Xanatos hastily added, "He had only been Qui-Gon's apprentice for a year, I don't expect him to learn too much from his Master, yet."

_He was trying to please the man._  Obi-Wan thought, wondering what kind of man he was talking to.

The man must have nodded, or made or gesture of approval, for he continued after a short pause. "Leave us, I have a few questions to ask him."

Obi-Wan heard the shuffling of feet and footsteps leading off to another corridor and faded eventually. Now, he is alone, facing some sort of hideous monster that he cannot see.

"So…young Obi-Wan, are you afraid?" The question came out of the man's mouth more like a hiss. Obi-Wan could feel darkness crawling all over the place where he was held captive. The man is dark, he realised, although he was completely under the mercy of this monster, he could not grant him the pleasure of seeing him shuddering in fear.

"No, Jedi do not fear, for fear leads to the dark side." Managed to manoeuvre his aching body to a sitting position, Obi-Wan answered in a voice, which sounded stronger than he thought it would.

"Good answer, Jedi. It looked like that Qui-Gon had taught you plenty." The man hissed again.

"Who are you and how did you know my Master?" Obi-Wan found his voice despite the situation.

"I thought I was the one who was suppose to be questioning here, but the answers to the questions you asked are quite harmless so I will answer. I'm the master of the darkness, and I know your Master because we had been friends a long time ago."

"I don't believe you," Obi-Wan said stiffly. Not believing that Qui-Gon would befriend anyone with so much darkness.

"Well, the answer is simple, I was a Jedi." The being spoke coldly, put a disgusted tone into his voice when he said the word Jedi, as if it is a memory that he would rather not remember.

"Why did you turn?"

The being seemed to be considering this for he paused several long seconds. "Well, I…and the Jedi Council had an argument, I don't see why we, Jedi should put up with the government, I see nothing in those Senators but greed, the Supreme Councillor is too blind to see it in those ones who are close to him.

"The Jedi council was blind, they failed to see those facts that are so clear before them, still so humbly serving the government, bending to their will. I cannot put up with this, so naturally, I left."

"You did this only for your own welfare, leaving it to others instead of solving it yourself. And we, Jedi didn't accept the missions to serve the government, but to serve the people."

"Great words, young one. But now I recognized the true power of the dark side. The Jedi are nothing compared to the power I possess. They will see one day that the dark side is taking over the galaxy, and I will see to it." The man said this with much ambition, menace, and hate, directed to the Jedi. A silence followed.

"Where am I?" Obi-Wan asked, finally broke the silence.

"Oh, you are in my temporary castle, welcome, young Jedi. I'm sorry that you cannot see its beauty, but I assure you that it is a very splendid work of art."

"Why did you blindfold me?" Obi-Wan asked sceptically.

"For safety reasons." The cold voice answered.

"Safety reasons? Xanatos' going to kill me in the end anyway, so why bother with all these 'hide and seek', why don't you just show yourself."

"You do not know me, young apprentice. I'm a man who does not like taking risks. There is just this faintest chance that you might escape, so that if it ever happened, no one will know my identity. And no one would ever find me."

"Master Qui-Gon could." Obi-Wan said bluntly.

"Yes, he will, and then we will see what Xanatos had planned for him."

Alarmed, Obi-Wan sent a warning through his bond to Qui-Gon as he was able to manage a small grasp on the Force again.

Qui-Gon was talking on the holo-com with Yoda when he felt Obi-Wan's warning.

/Master, it's a trap! Don't co…/

The warning was cut short in mid-sentence.  _They had done something to Obi-Wan._  Qui-Gon thought worriedly.  _Something that stopped his ability to use the Force. A Force inhibitor._  The thought sent a chill down his spine. Without the defence of the Force, Obi-Wan is entirely at Xanatos' mercy. And Xanatos had no mercy. Obi-Wan didn't tell him where he was taken. He doubts it that the boy knows himself. Xanatos would never let down his guard to slip something that would benefit his enemy.

"Feel something, you did?" Yoda's voice woke him from his deep thoughts.

"Yes, Obi-Wan sent me a warning, but was cut off short. I believe they had been using Force inhibitors on him."

Yoda closed his heavy eyelids, and said, "Mmm…help him, it will not, if you walk straight into a trap you do not know of."

"But I have to find Obi-Wan, Xanatos might try to turn him to the dark side."

"Being your apprentice for a year, he had. Know him now, you should, that he would not turn to the dark side."

"I believe in him too, but…he cannot defend himself with the Force, giving on what Xanatos had done to him before - "

Yoda interrupted him with a reprimanding voice, "Dwell on your emotions, you shall not. Help Obi-Wan by worrying, it will not. Give time to think, you should." The little green Jedi Master's voice softened at the concerned look on the Jedi Master's face. "The Council would have sent Jedi teams to aid you, were there any more Jedi Knights available in the Temple. However, one team left, we have. Send them, we will. But escorting and protecting the Supreme Councillor back to Coruscant, their mission is. So you can concentrate on your Padawan and Xanatos, then."

"Thank you, Master."

"May the Force be with you." The holo-com winked out.

Qui-Gon sat and brooded over the conversation he just had. The council had done him a favour of sending a Jedi team to escort the Supreme Councillor to Coruscant, for Qui-Gon could not think how he could manage to protect the Supreme Councillor and to solve the matter at hand at the same time. He needs to talk to the Mayor, he had an overwhelming feeling that he was hiding something from them.

The man must have felt the surge of Force emitting from the Padawan, for he clicked his fingers and soon, Obi-Wan felt a needle prickling his left arm and the Force was withdrawn from him once more.

"You won't be able to use the Force to escape Obi-Wan, my man will keep giving you these shots until you learn to behave yourself." High, cruel laughter was the last think Obi-Wan heard as he once again drifted into unconsciousness.


	5. In the Depth of a Planet

Obi-Wan woke to find himself hanging from binders on a wall in a dark cell. His blindfold was removed and ankles are no longer bound together. Although his wrists were no longer lashed with the too-tight binders, instead, it was chained to the wall behind him.

It was awfully cold in here, Obi-Wan shivered. The cell must be metres below the ground, for it was very damp. He could feel the soft, wet moss next to the back of his forearms where the skin was exposed to the cold, damp air as the baggy tunic sleeves fell to about his elbow. Pain immediately shot from his shoulder as he tried to move, stretching the ghastly blaster wound on his shoulder. It had definitely gotten worse in the coldness and dampness of the cell.

A strong smell of decay and blood filled the cell…or, is it a cell? Air felt hollow around him. Obi-Wan nudged his foot forward cautiously and immediately touched something that felt like a rock. Kicking it with all his strength, he heard it scrape off the floor and, to his horror, it connected with something solid and what sounded like many hollow sticks shattered apart and fell on to the ground. Amongst the bone chilling crash, Obi-Wan thought he heard a clang of chains and the sound of stone scraping against stone. Then, footsteps followed.

Obi-Wan turned towards the direction of the sound, but saw nothing but darkness. Without the Force, Obi-Wan felt small and vulnerable. He felt his heart pounding rapidly in his chest, making it difficult to breathe through his already damaged chest. He didn't know what to expect, but soon, a faint glow appeared around a corner, illuminating a man swathed in dark cloak who was the holder. The cloak wept soundlessly across the floor. If not for the footsteps, it would have truly looked like a phantom. Obi-Wan could tell from the way he walked that the man was Xanatos.

The light illuminated things around the man as well. Chains could be seen dangling from the high ceiling. Some hang empty, dripping with dampness; some occupied by what looked like a tangle of bones and moss, barely making the shape of what was left of a man, whose flesh decayed long ago. In the light, dried blood could be seen stained on the floor, ceiling and walls. The Xanatos approached closer, his steps steady, it did not even falter when crunches of bones are clearly audible under one of the boots. Both the man and sound came to a halt in front of the boy. Eerie silence followed.

Obi-Wan looked up at the hooded face, though now he had a pretty good idea who he is, he could not find calm in this horrid place. The dead seemed had left their mark here, he hazily felt pain, fear, anger, hate, despair, sorrow hang thick in the moist air, and in the rocks around him, just like the stains of blood, which had soaked into the rock walls. He realised that the Force inhibitor drug they had used on him was being slowly repelled out of his system.

Xanatos' handsomely wicked face appeared from under the hood. His ice blue eyes sparkling with evil. A smirk appeared on his face. "Enjoying yourself here, young Padawan? I see you had shattered one of the castle monuments."

"What do you want, Xanatos." Obi-Wan asked hostilely, trying to keep the tremble from his voice as a chill went through his body.

"Ah, still so brave. Anyone your age would have been scared out of their wits in here."

Obi-Wan glared at him. "Yeah, someone like you."

Xanatos stared at him hard, then his face relaxed and he looked around. "A frightening place this is, isn't it. No living beings had been here for thousands of years. It used to be a dungeon in Mesoelliane Era for what they call Mesoes, their word for Force-sensitives. Of course, they were not trained in a way like you Jedi do. Yes, they can use it to sense things around them, but mostly to tame wild beasts. They use the beasts for all uses, like labour, transport, protection, pet and so on.

"But one day, the Queen of the empire was killed. It was discovered that a Mesoe had tamed a poisonous Dowus snake and commended a Kllew bird's mind to carry it through the Queen's window and the snake to creep into the Queen's bed while she was asleep to bit her on the leg. The King was furious, he ordered a mass execution for all Mesoes. So the empire irrupted into chaos, the hunt went on for decades and the last Mesoe died in here. So naturally, you realise that the Force cannot help you here." Xanatos stepped closer, leaning nearer to the apprentice. "Tell me, if Qui-Gon died, would it break you, would you let the darkness fill you and join us on the darkside?"

Obi-Wan spat on his face.

Without warning, Xanatos struck him on the face with a vicious backhanded blow, snapping the boy's head sideways with the force of the impact. Obi-Wan tasted blood washing around in his mouth and his head pounding.

Grabbing the apprentice's jaw roughly, frighteningly close to the throat, Xanatos tilted the boy's face up so his gaze could meet his. He saw that blood was trickling down a corner of the Obi-Wan's mouth and from his nose, and gave a satisfied smile. He wept his face with his other sleeve and stared into Obi-Wan's bright, sapphire eyes with his ice cold ones. "Have it your way then. If you weren't a part of my plan, I would most certainly wring your scrawny neck and save myself the trouble."

Xanatos grabbed Obi-Wan's wounded shoulder suddenly, gripping it so hard that the apprentice had to bit down hard on his lip to stop himself from crying out in agony. Obi-Wan tried to twist away from the man's grasp, but the chains did their job and Xanatos tightened his grip. At this moment, Obi-Wan felt even more helpless than he'd ever imagined he could. Xanatos was gripping his shoulder so hard that his thumb dug into the barely sealed flesh, blood trickled from the wound again. Kicking out desperately, Obi-Wan found his feet connected with Xanatos' shin, but the man gave no yielding and tightened his grip even more.

"Now, is there anything you didn't tell me before?" Qui-Gon was getting very impatient. Obi-Wan's life was on stake here, he could not risk much more time.

"There isn't anywhere I know, I swear…"

Qui-Gon felt a burst of agony coming through the training bond he had Obi-Wan shared, Qui-Gon suddenly became very white. /Padawan! Obi-Wan! Are you all right/ He clearly wasn't.

"…Master Qui-Gon, Master Qui-Gon! Are you all right?" The mayor's voice snapped Qui-Gon back to his surroundings.

"Obi-Wan, he's in pain."

The Mayor gasped, "Oh no, that poor kid!"

"Come on, you have to tell me."

Obi-Wan strained on his bond trying to shut out the blinding pain, but it only made the metal cut into his already bruised wrists, but he still refused to grant Xanatos the satisfaction of hearing him in pain. Blood was flowing freely from the wound now and Xanatos finally loosen the grip of his strong hand now stained with Obi-Wan's blood. Obi-Wan sank at the sudden release on the worst part of the pain, letting out his breath in a pain-filled hiss.

"I hope you had learnt your lesson,  _Padawan_." Xanatos said the last word with much disgust, releasing Obi-Wan's bloody shoulder, he turned to leave without another word. The dome was once again echoed with the bone-chilling sound of crunching skeleton under a boot.

Soon, everything was dead silent and dark again.

Though he could not see anything in the suffocating darkness, Obi-Wan could feel blood dripping steadily down his shoulder. The dampness would slow the wound's healing and in a place filled with rotten bodies the wound could easily get infected. Obi-Wan could feel the Force around him more strongly now, the room was filled with darkness. The doom and pain hang so thick that Obi-Wan almost felt sure that he could touch them. Hope and lightness were dead here, the prisoners known that in the end the cold, the dampness and hunger will kill them if torture did not. Obi-Wan shuddered at his imagination of what had happened in here so long ago. He concentrated on his centre and reached out for the Force to heal his wound. He had only the slightest grasp on the Force when pain starting from his wrists wracked through his already pain-filled body and increased it by tenfold, breaking his concentration immediately. Obi-Wan did cry out this time, this sudden shock had caught him off-guard. His cry echoed in the dome, reflecting off its many walls, sounding like a dome swarming with restless phantoms wailing to see justice.

The sound echoed in the dome for what seemed like an eternity, finally faded away. This was what Xanatos meant; he could not use the Force in here. But he still could feel it even he could not use it. There was not one living thing here in the dome but him. Obi-Wan felt the utter loneliness and fear that threatens to consume him. He had always hated the dark – you never know what's there waiting to strike at you. Although Obi-Wan had the Force, it never felt the same using Force to guide your way instead of using your eyes.

Obi-Wan could not focus. He was getting colder and colder in the past few…is it only a few hours? It felt like days to him! He was now shivering uncontrollably, the cold had finally broke into him. Was it because of the blood loss? His wound had been sealed for a while now, but already a large area of his tonic was damp with his own blood, making him chilled to the bone. He was loosing conscious dangerously, Obi-Wan wandered if he was dying. He briefly thought that if he died, Qui-Gon wouldn't look for him anymore therefore would not step into Xanatos' trap. But could he give his life up like that? As long as there is life, there is hope. As long as there is hope, he could think of a way to escape and help Qui-Gon. Closing his eyes, Obi-Wan took a deep breath, trying to push off the dizziness.

Just then, the dome shook with amazing ferocity. The eerie silent space was suddenly filled with chaos as rocks rain down from the unstable roof. Obi-Wan opened his eyes again with much effort as he was slowly losing the battle of holding on to the thin thread of consciousness, but what he saw shocked him even in his current state. The wall directly in front of him was crumbling like fragile glass; some kind of animal had its vicious claw in and tearing the whole place apart. Obi-Wan shut his eyes and weakly tiled his head to the side as a blinding flash of light filled the once pitch dark dome. The boy hadn't seen sunshine for so long that his eyes would take a while to adjust to light again.

Despite the glaring light, Obi-Wan's world was dimming, shadows swallowed up the bright light and soon, the world was black again as consciousness slipt out of the young Jedi's grasp eventually.


	6. Startling Discovery

"I can feel it, he's somewhere over there." Pailar called to her companions, tightening the harness on her Dneot beast which had been more than just a little startled by the fallen rocks. "We had to get him outta there before the whole thing caves in, or anyone comes. This whole thing must have felt like an earthquake to the people above."

"I reckon too. I wonder who lives up there now. We haven't visited here for generations." Malia pulled up next to her. "But no one can ever forget what had happened down here." Taking in the decayed bones littered on the floor.

Riding silently, Pailar and Malia quickly made their way around a huge pile of rock and immediately noticed a still body chained to the wall.

"Oh Lord, he's only a child!" Cursing under her breath, Malia got off her mount and stepped beside the unconscious boy, checking his pulse. "He's not too well. Unconscious from loss of blood." Malia turned around to face Pailar and saw that she was already at her side, inspecting the binders on the unconscious boy's wrists. She found no key holes, no seams or what things that gives an indication on how to open them. She winced inwardly when she noticed that the skin beneath the metal of the binder was raw and blood had stained the boy's sleeve, deep scarlet.

Malia drew her blaster smoothly out of the strap on her hip and expertly aimed two shots for each of the chain.

"We will have to think of a way to get rid of these when we get back to the tribe." She explained, picking the boy off the floor in one fluid movement and looked at Pailar for understanding.

Pailar nodded but said nothing. She wasn't sure if she had seen the child before in her tribe. But then, there were so many of them that she won't remember them all. The child might have been wondering around and lost his way and end up here. But who are the new owners of the castle? And why would they hold him captive?

Meanwhile, the party outside the tunnel was waiting patiently for their return. The tunnel was dug by a huge Breian lizard which, in the tribe, was used as a natural digging machine, as the Mesoes had the unique gift to tame the simple-minded species. As the two women riding on Dneot beast with a child in one of their arms emerged from the tunnel, one of the party members directed his mount towards them.

"He's not one of us." He stated simply, while looking at the boy, studying.

"No, Larnod nor is he from the city. He's skin is fair but flawless."

All humanoid with fair skin in Auchenflower had freckles due to the thin ozone layer and the unforgiving UV-ray. The early settlers here came from Tooo-Wong, another planet in the same system where the Ozone layer was thicker and further away from the sun. Their skin were fair and flawless, but after settling on Auchenflower for three generations, freckles unavoidably appear on their skin, dimming their beauty. But people got used to the idea and grown to like it, for now they have something that makes them different from the other inhabitants in the system.

"We can't take him back to the tribe with us. He might be dangerous. Besides, we don't even know why is he here. He could be a spy." Larnod reasons, still studying the boy with eyes now shone with fear.

"How could your logic jump to that conclusion? Why would the government use a child? And why would he end up locked up in there?" Malia's eyes shone with fire. "He needs medical attention, as soon as possible. Are you suggesting we leave him here and end up listed on some Tilco cat's lunch menu? I don't think so! The poor boy won't survive in the condition he's in." Malia and Larnod argued on for sometime while Pailar was brooding beside them, listening to them and thinking.

They had thought that it was one of their own down there. She didn't saw the difference of the boy's skin down in the cave because of the lack of light, now that she saw it, she began to wonder.

No strangers had entered this jungle for generations, for the Mesoes had tamed and trained Tilco cats to keep strangers off this continent and they had done a great job for thousands of years – until a month ago – her tribe people going out hunting had discovered the bodies of slain Tilco cats. Their wounds was like nothing they had seen before. The beasts had all sustained a third degree burn and the wounds shaped suspiciously like long cylinders. Not only had Pailar never seen those kind of weapons before, but the fact that any Tilco cat had been killed by intruders were never hear before. Tilco cats are know for their cunning and speed that made them deadly foes. In all her life, she had not seen a single person skilled enough to fight a Tilco cat and survive, let alone killing it. She didn't know what they were dealing with yet. Who ever they are, one thing is certain, they are hostile. And that place the boy on their side.

"Dawn is near, we need to get back to the tribe before it get too dark. Malia, I think Silver Strip will be able to carry the boy in addition to your weight as well. He's in your charge for the trip." Pailar added calmly as Malia started to protest. Malia smiled delightfully but Larnod gave her a sullen look, but said no more. He had always trusted Pailar's decisions.

Mindful of the boy's injuries, Malia gently hugged the unconscious boy to her chest with one arm protectively so that he could stay on her silver striped Dneot beast. However this species of beasts may look that gave them a clumsy appearance, they were extremely quick on their feet. In the speed they were travelling now, they would be back at the tribe by nightfall.


	7. Friend or Foe?

As the bright candlelight gently kissed the closed eyelids of the boy, all the feelings and senses that connects him to the outside world was slowly coming back to him. Obi-Wan could feel soft fabric underneath him which made him guess that he was on a bed. Still with his eyes closed, Obi-Wan leafed through his memories, trying to recall what had caused this slumber. Then, imagines of a man clad in black, a dark place illuminated only by a single glowing rode, and the shattering wall surfaced from his memory. Obi-Wan wondered if it was the sunshine that returned him his consciousness when a huge, sticky, wet, warm something slid across his cheek and over his closed eyelids.

"What is it?" He mumbled, half to himself, for it was impossible for anyone twenty centimetres from him to make out what he was saying.

When his eyelids fluttered open weakly and finally focused, he was in a dimly lit room with wavering candlelight beside him. When he turned to face the light, what he saw would have made him jump out of his skin if he weren't feeling so disorientated and exhausted.

An enormous Tilco cat was sitting at his bedside. And by my mean of enormous, it is bigger than all others of its specie. This one had a growth hormone disorder so that it never exactly left the growth sprout stage. Yes, it's still growing bigger.

Tilco cats are dangerous natural predators known for this incredible agility and speed. They had two long vicious-looking fang coming out of the upper gum of their mouth. Green eyes were common in Tilco cats. This one, however, have huge yellow eyes with slits for iris, for the light is quite bright now.

Obi-Wan was just lying there staring up at the humongous beast wondering if he was dead meat when someone appeared at the door.

Both the Tilco cat and the boy turned to see the unexpected visitor.

"Greetings young man, are you feeling better now? You had been hurt quite badly, but the healers had treated and bandaged your wounds, so now none are life-threatening. You are in the Kileo tribe now and you'll be safe here." It was a woman Obi-Wan could place around the age of 30 or 35, she had dark bushy hair with curly fringe and dark brown eyes. "Oh, and my name is Malia and I see you have made a new friend." Winking at the huge Tilco cat, Malia introduced, "This is Cadar, he's huge, isn't he. I think he likes you, haven't left your bedside since you arrived. He's a tough big boy, even the healers didn't dare to try to tell him to move." Cadar the Tilco cat purred as if in agreement.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan tried to smile, but stopped immediately when the act made him wince as he had acquired an impressive bruise on his cheek where Xanatos had hit him.

"Who are the new owners of the Castle? And why did they hurt you?" Malia's eyes suddenly shone with concern at the boy's reaction.

"I don't know the owner either, but I do know his sidekick. His name is Xanatos and he was a mortal enemy of my Master."

"Your Master?" Malia, being the outsider, had no idea who Obi-Wan was talking about.

"Oh, I'm a Jedi Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. And I have a Jedi Master, who take cares of me and trains me. His name is Qui-Gon Jinn."

"A Jedi? I've heard about them in stories the Elders told us when I was young. But I had always thought that they were just stories. So you really are a Jedi?" Malia's eyes were wide, filled with bewilderment and admiration at the same time.

"Yes, the Jedi are very real, they are the keepers of the peace of the galaxy, but there weren't very many of them." Obi-Wan then gave Malia a brief explanation of the Jedi Order.

"Wow! You Jedi are really like us! But we are only good at persuading the mind, not like you, a good fighter." Just then, a low horn sounded, Cadar the Tilco cat began to growled softly at Malia, catching her attention.

"That's the meeting of the Elsied's summon call. I'm one of the member, as the daughter of the Great Father. You'll need a long good rest now, so I'll see you in the morning." Malia pattered the boy's arm affectionately, and left the room, leaving the huge Tilco cat to look after the recovering boy.

"A meeting, I guess that sounds interesting." Obi-Wan mumbled up at the Tilco cat, absent-mindedly. "I guess I'd better sleep now. Goodnight Cadar." The beast licked the boy's eyelids in reply. Soon, the overly-exhausted young Jedi fell into a peaceful slumber.

"Darkness is descending on Kileo." The Great Father opened his eyes from a deep trance as the Force presented him with the signs of danger. "The outsider had brought danger to our tribe."

"You mean the boy our outlook party had picked up two days ago?" Suggested one of the Olders.

"It certainly seem so," the Great Father sighed deeply, as if trying to bring peace to his raging mind.

"I knew it!" Larnod burst out. "I knew it was a mistake to bring the boy here in the first place. I knew he was a spy."

The other members were silent and brooding while some sadly shook their heads.

Malia, however, looked at him angrily, "That does not mean the boy is a spy or that he's working against us. It could only prove that he is being hunted."

"This place is too well guarded and shielded. How else would we have lasted this long? If the boy hadn't made some sort of contact with the outsiders, how could they even find us?"

"It could be anything. It is obvious that they can use the Force and are good fighters. This place is no longer safely guarded. You know the Tilco cats are no match against those newcomers."

Larnod opened his mouth to challenge her, but the vice-councillor held up his hand for silence. "Enough of this. It is pointless to argue over the outsider's statues. No matter who he is, he will endanger our people. We cannot keep him here."

"But he's not recovered yet. You can't throw him out in the condition he is in now. It will mean sure death for him!" Malia's voice was raising as she struggled to contain her anger and frustration.

"It will mean sure death for us if he remained. He is but one life, and an outsider. Is it really worth it to endanger all of  _us_  for the boy?"

Malia bit her lip. The gathering was silent. Tension hung thick in the air around them as their fears were finally realised.

"The Tilco cats are no longer powerful enough to protect us, we'll need to act immediately. I foresee that if he remains, our tribe will be invaded and our people killed. However, if he is set loose, he will be captured." The Great Father spoke.

"Our existence cannot be known by the outsiders. We will have to perform the  _procedure_  on him." One of the members turned towards the Great Father for approve. But before he could answer Malia practically screamed at him. "No! If you perform the  _procedure_  on him, he would be as well as dead. There is not a chance that he will survive without the knowledge of how to protect himself! He's an outsider, the creatures of this forest will not help him."

The  _procedure_  was basically memory wipe, only that it was a more controlled type of wipe. The user will forget all the people and places they knew and visited and each colourful life episodes in connection with them. They can do what a normal people can, but they have no memories of their past. The religion the Mesoelliane believed in accepts no killings of a sentiment specie of any kind, so naturally, their method of punishment of any criminals in the tribe was band them from the tribe. But in fear of letting the existence of the secret tribe be known to the outsiders, they have created the  _procedure_ , to safeguard their people from outside threats.

"The Outsider's fate will be decided later. Now, we need volunteers to investigate the mysterious attacks at our boarder."

Darkness twisted the silence around him. Darkness had fallen, and fallen hard. The eerie silence was filled with tension. He was all alone, helpless. Stretching out with his senses, he could feel nothing. Everything around him was strangely muted. Emptiness. He was suffocating in the pool of darkness. A place abandoned by light. He could feel the vicious claw of fear clutching at his pounding heart. Fear. No, I cannot feel fear. Fear leads to the darkside and he could not afford to loose his footing now. The path was narrow. He had stray once, but he had learnt his lesson, he know the price he would pay if he strayed. Suddenly, a dark figure slithered into his view. It approached slowly, like a ghostly shadow. Suddenly, and soundlessly, it leapt at him.

Obi-Wan woke just as a strong hand clamp down hard over his mouth. He stared straight into the dark cold eyes of a stranger. Panic grew in him as another hand grabbed at him, trying to restrain him, but he struggled back, hard. A loud thud echoed through the small room as he fell to the floor. Suddenly, a cold metal pressed against chest, he froze.

"Don't move boy, or I'll kill you. Is it understood?" A low, malevolent voice boomed.

Still staring at the masked face in terror, Obi-Wan nodded tightly, realizing that he was obviously over-powered.

"Good. Now, don't make a sound." The man empathised the threat by pressing the blaster harder to the youth's chest. Obi-Wan nodded again.

Being dragged unceremoniously to his feet, Obi-Wan spared a look at the Tilco Cat beside his bed, it was still fast asleep.

The man saw the boy's slight movement and chucked minaciously. "The cat's off pretty nicely. Can't risk it, can I?" Not waiting for a reply – not that in Obi-Wan's current situation he could – the man roughly shuffled him out of the room, rough hand still clamped tightly over his mouth, but the blaster was lowered. Recognizing this advantage instantly, Obi-Wan bucked suddenly, knocking the man slightly off balance. Even though, he hardly had time to take a step before he was knocked to the ground by a vicious kick to his side. Before he could recover, he felt a heavy weight settled on top of him, effectively pinning him to the ground. A rough clothe was stuffed into his mouth non-too-gently and he felt a stab of raw fear as his arms were pulled back and bonded together with a length of rough rope.  _Not again!_  He thought desperately, squirming under his assailant's heavy weight, futilely attempting to escape.

"Don't try that again. Next time, I won't be so generous."


End file.
